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Skin-Taker
The Skin-Taker is a marionette, and an inhabitant of the Abysmal Kingdom, who was summoned to Candle Cove. He is known to roam around candle-lit caves and seashores. He acts as a secondary antagonist, by tempting Janice or Percy to commit assault, battery, and even murders or suicide. Before the events in Candle Cove, as revealed through flashbacks, the Skin-Taker was a thin, pale man named Thade Soben. Appearance He is a skeleton with glass eyes, which are too big for his sockets. He wears a hat and cape made from his victim's skin. Most noticeably, he has a freakishly unreal jaw which can only slide side to side not the usual up and down movement for a jaw. He mentions that his jaw moves this way to grind skin.The reason he has no skin is because Poppy skinned him to avenge his victims. His eyes were different colors in different lighting. In darker scenes, they would be a greyish blue, while in bright yellowish light they were vivid purple. This was unintentional, since the development crew only wanted his eyes to be blue. In the episode Ship Crash, they were replaced with red eyes, but this frightened some children, so they switched back to the color changing ones. Although he usually just wears a cape and hat, he has also worn shirts, shoes, pants, a vest, and often wears a wristband made from Lillian's skin he found after she was murdered by Red Mary. In one episode, this wristband was a watch. Personality He is very calm, and somewhat sadistic. He does not seem to acknowledge skinning his victims as cruel, evil, etc. He actually seems to think he's doing them a favour. The Skin-Taker believes being dead is a different version of being alive, as he speaks of the dead as if they were still alive. As a matter of fact, he rarely has any sympathy for the living, but plenty for the dead. He even taunted Poppy (whom he despises) by saying he wouldn't skin him because that would be too kind, suggesting he would not skin people he hated as he did not want them on his clothes. He still showed a sick pleasure in skinning his victims, though. He is generally insane. However, like most villains, he is abusive towards his henchman, curb-stomping Horace into the body of a dead rat, calling the Abysmal Things "miserable slaves" and scolding them, insulting the Rubber Fishes crew, and killing Milo simply because he hurt his ego. Episodes He is known to be present in six episodes, but he may have been in more of the ones that were unaired. His scenes are generally lengthy and considered frightening. His signature songs, Come, Come, Rip, and One Year Closer, contain some ambiguous and dark themes. The Skin-Taker is not defeated in every episode; he has managed to kill pirates from both tribulations and crafted (on-screen and off-screen depending on the episode) pieces of clothing from their skins. This character is, by far, the most controversial part of the show. Abilities *He commands the Abysmal Things, the Skeleton Crew, and Horace Horrible. *He is proficient in death magic, but rarely uses it. It is implied he used necromancy to summon skeletons. *As confirmed in A New Route, he can talk to the dead through their skins. He can also use skin that he removed from a living person to track them down if they still live. *He is immortal due to being from the Abysmal Kingdom, but he was previously sealed away, so it is possible to imprison him. *He's an expert tailor, and very good at sewing. *He seems to be a pretty good sword fighter, but this is rarely shown. *He sometimes has a troupe of skeletons to help him, not to be confused with the skeleton crew. When with his skeleton troupe, he proves to be a good dancer. *It is implied in A Drastic Team Up that he is very good at predicting future events, but not psychic, since while he knows someone is going to kill Milo, he does not know who for sure, although he knows it is possible he may kill Milo himself. Trivia *His birthday is the same day as Janice's. *His look can be compared to that of Baron Samedi. *He enjoys throwing tea parties, but it is unknown who he has them with. *Some note that his movements are highly realistic, much like those of Poppy. *It is hinted during the show that he refers to a higher authority, speculated to be an Eldritch Abomination. *His wife is Mrs. Skin-Taker, but it turned out to only be a dream, so her actual existence is unconfirmed. *He often breaks the fourth wall, and talks directly to the audience. When getting ready to kill Milo in one episode, he looked at the camera, shouting "DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!" and pushed the camera so it faced the other direction, so all you saw was the shadows. *Every pirate crew in Candle Cove, with the exception of the Rubber Fishes, avoid having a skull on their flag, as it is associated with the Skin-Taker. *A man anonymously claimed to own some records that indicated that there were pirates who went by the "Skin-Taker", but with no indication that any were like the antagonist in Candle Cove. It is also unknown if the records are real or fraud, since the man also claims that they just happened to disappear before historians could check for authenticity. *There are rumors his puppet was carved from ivory, but this is unlikely since the show was low budget. However, one member of the staff went deer hunting, so they may have carved it from a deer bone. *In the episode The Birthday Party, he is stroking an unusually large purple cat constructed from clay. In The Fascinating Creatures of the Abysmal Kingdom, the cat is revealed to be a Chena. *His cape gets longer and longer during the series. At one point, it is longer after Janice's actress changes, it gets twice as long, which is the most noticable time when this occurs. It is unknown if this was coincidence, or if the developers did it on purpose. Fanart Category:Characters Category:Villains Category:Abysmal Category:Males